Daniel Cormier: If UFC makes a 165-pound division, Conor McGregor has to fight for the title
Daniel Cormier thinks Conor McGregor should fight for the title if the UFC introduced a 165-pound division.
Often referred to as the super lightweight division, rumors recently emerged that the UFC is looking to add new weight classes – even though UFC CEO Dana White has dismissed that idea in the past.
But if the rumors indeed are true, Cormier argues that the only way you can draw interest to a new division is by attaching a massive name like former dual-champion McGregor, which would garner interest. He thinks the UFC got it wrong when they introduced women’s featherweight, which appears to have dissolved after champion Amanda Nunes retired.
“If you do 165, it has to be Conor,” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren. “You’re introducing a new weight class – it has to mean something. You can’t have two normal fighters introducing the weight. Look, it didn’t work at 145 when they did it for the women. It ended up being two people, but if you recall, Germaine de Randamie fought Holly Holm for that championship in Brooklyn.
“It wasn’t a great fight, but Germaine de Randamie won the fight and refused to fight Cris Cyborg. Nobody took it serious until Cris Cyborg became the champion, and when Cyborg became the champion, it wasn’t a problem. The only reason why it worked was because it was Cris Cyborg. That would be the same thing if you add this belt with a guy without a name.”
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is expected to make his long-awaited return from injury against Michael Chandler, but a date and venue have yet to be announced.
Askren disagrees with Cormier. He says McGregor hasn’t had a meaningful win since 2016, and would not be eligible to fight for any belt – even if he’s a big name.
“McGregor is coming off like four losses, Daniel,” Askren said. “It doesn’t make any sense. If he’s a guy who had won 20 in a row or something – kind of like my situation where I’m like, ‘I’m not going to fight Tyron (Woodley).’ If we are going to try and make a belt for Conor, just make another BMF. Make ‘IMF: Irish Motherf*cker.'”